Death Angel Dress Rehearsal & Departure
- Hectic
- 16 hours ago
- 3 min read
DNA Lounge
San Francisco CA
April 29, 2026
I’ve never been in the DNA Lounge when the doors were locked and all the lights were up. Boy are those rafters dusty.
On this Wednesday night it was the final dress rehearsal for the second leg of Death Angel’s ACT III 40th anniversary tour, and a few of us got to witness the culmination of weeks of practice before the band departed on tour.
Courtesy of the DNA lounge, Death Angel had set up in the empty club the night before, and was running through the set a final time. All their gear and boxes (and boxes) of merch were stacked around the floor where there would normally be a pit. They are going to have a lot of vinyl on this tour, apparently Nuclear Blast has repressed the past 4 or 5 releases, so there were stacks of boxes of vinyl.
Of course, like any music production, there was a bit of hurry up and wait, while the band set up and the sound guy got things dialed in. My partner in this site, Will, can’t sit still behind his drum set of course, so we were treated to everything from Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (always), Obituary’s “Chopped in Half”, Celtic Frost, Megadeth, and even Bell Biv DeVoe’s “Poison”. Damon Sisson seemed more in a 70s soft rock mood, riffing Steely Dan and other smooth tunes on the bass.
Witness this impromptu jazz blues (or blues jazz) jam, I’ve never seen Will play that slowly:
Once things got going, the band ran through their set, playing ACT III in its entirety, including something you don’t usually see at a Death Angel show, acoustic guitars on stage for a couple of the songs.
After a quick smoke break, Death Angel practiced the second part of the set, mostly standards from the last 5 albums. For good measure, they practiced a few songs from the back catalog that they are planning to play in Europe this summer – I think it was like 20 songs total or thereabouts. Quite a long set / practice.
The tour bus and trailer were parked out front, ready for load in after the rehearsal, with the first show on Friday in Tempe, Arizona. The band departed late Wednesday night for the two day drive to start their 7 week tour!
DEATH ANGEL Tour Dates:
May 1 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theater
May 3 - Oklahoma City, OK - Diamond Ballroom
May 5 - New Orleans, LA - House of Blues
May 7 - Daytona, FL - Welcome To Rockville
May 10 - Charlotte, NC - The Underground
May 11 - Asheville, NC - Orange Peel
May 12 - Hobart, IN - Hobart Theater
May 14 - Detroit, MI - St. Andrews Hall
May 15 - Sayreville, NJ - Starland Ballroom
May 16 - Norwalk, CT - District Music Hall
May 19 - Wilmington, DE - The Queen
May 20 - New York, NY - Gramercy Theater
May 21 - Buffalo, NY - Electric City
May 22 - Allentown, PA - Archer Music Hall
May 24 - Baltimore, MD - Maryland Deathfest
May 27 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade (Hell)
May 28 - Orlando, FL - The Abbey
May 29 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Culture Room
May 30 - Tampa, FL - Orpheum
June 2 - Nashville, TN - Brooklyn Bowl
June 3 - Louisville, KY - Mercury Ballroom
June 5 - Milwaukee, WI - MKE Metal Fest
June 6 - St. Louis, MO - Red Flag
June 8 - Wichita, KS - Wave
June 9 - Greeley, CO - Moxi Theater
June 10 - Colorado Springs, CO - Black Sheep
June 11 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Complex
June 12 - Boise, ID - Shrine Ballroom
June 14 - Seattle, WA - Showbox
June 16 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
June 17 - Sacramento, CA - Ace of Spades
June 18 - San Luis Obispo, CA - Fremont Theater
June 19 - Santa Ana, CA - The Observatory
June 20 - Ventura, CA - Ventura Music Hall
June 21 - Santa Cruz, CA - The Catalyst
If Death Angel is coming to your town, don’t miss them! Act III in its entirety really is a unique experience.
–Hectic
